Five Roses
by Sachi Gosetsuke
Summary: Five roses…that’s how many he gave her. And he told her he would love her until the last one dies.
1. First Rose: Thorns

**Five Roses**

_By Sachi Gosetsuke_

Summary: Five roses…that's how many he gave her. And he told her he would love her until the last one dies (JunxKaz).

_**Sachi**_: I finally decided to write something that both JunxKaz haters _and_ fans could enjoy. Why? Well consider this: Namco _did_ in fact create Jun and Kazuya to be **together** and though we are skeptical on their secret affair, they _did_ in fact have a **kid**. But just remember that Kazuya and Jun's relationship is both tragic _and_ **dark** as much as it is _mysterious_ and romantic. So keep that in mind haters and fans, because for the first time in FanFiction history (maybe), you get to choose the ending.

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_First Rose: _Thorns

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With delicate fingers, she opened the blue box slowly with gentle care.

Inside was a white silk dress as smooth and soft as the feathery wisps of clouds on a bright summer day. And with this white dress were a white pair of sandals to match this beautiful outfit; white sandals that made her about two inches taller, yet not nearly tall enough to reach the height of the one who gave these priceless gifts to her.

Underneath the dress and sandals, and underneath the tissue papers was a note written in cursive Western characters, an unfamiliar sight that she had learn to get used to for the past three weeks, compared to the square and plain Japanese characters. Yet she looked forward to this foreign yet known sight; for "cursive" was the only character _he_ wrote in with her.

But what caught her eye in the midst of the elegant yet plain colors of white and sky blue was a dark, blood-colored rose.

Pushing the stray tendrils of her raven hair behind her ear, she carefully took the rose, admiring it for a moment, and finally took out the cream-colored stationary with its black sharp cursive writing and read it.

_Jun,_

_This rose shall be a symbol of our undying love – including the other ones to come. This is one of five roses that I will give you, and I will tell you this: I will give you five roses to keep…and our love shall never die nor wilt away with these roses until the last one dies._

_Meet me this evening after your match by the shores of the lake._

A bright smile formed upon her cherry lips and she kissed the note and set out for a vase to place the single rose in it.

Before she met him, she was just a simple and ordinary woman, who was determined both in body and soul, and was as pure and kind as she was strong. She had both the wisdom beyond her age, and also the very innocence that should have left her long ago. Jun could see the beauty and goodness within others especially when they themselves could not and refused to see. She sought for love and forgiveness, and was strong-willed…however, naive at the same time.

Though a beautiful woman at a young age who could have any man to fall in love with her at first sight, she only saw nature as one of her true loves. She never really did have the desire to be loved and cared for by a man; and ever since she moved from the forests of Yakushima to the hectic city called Tokyo, she felt far too busy with her career as a wildlife officer for romance. But lurking deep within her heart that would soon awaken was a longing.

The longing to be loved. To be touched…and to be kissed by a man that would forever protect and love her. A man whom she can bare a child of her own.

And before she met him, she understood what kind of assignment the WWWC had sent her on. An assignment that could ultimately take her life if she wasn't careful.

An assignment to arrest Kazuya Mishima. Him.

Her friends and old brother told her not to go…however something in her heart told her that this was her destiny. And being the spiritual and psychic one, she _always_ ended up listening to her heart…

Jun understood Kazuya's secret, his dark and terrible curse that he must live with. However she vowed to set free his soul.

No matter what.

The love she kept for him was strong enough. She'll be able to set free his soul. After all, there was no power greater than love. Just as long as she continued to love him, kiss him, and hold him, he will not give into the darkness.

No matter what tragedies he caused…that there were people he had killed, deaths he wanted still, lives he had kidnapped, the places he destroyed… She only needed to know that there was goodness left in him still, getting stronger everyday she spent with him.

Sometimes, like right then as she filled a clear glass vase with water, she felt as if Kazuya never did do these things. That he really didn't want his father dead. That all he wanted was someone to love, and to be loved, and for his soul and mind to finally rest at peace…it was probably true, and that the Devil, his father, and his hate were mere thorns on a rose stem--

"Ouch!"

Jun's reflexes kicked in then when she quickly dropped the rose and held her bleeding finger. A protruding thorn on the rose's stem had pierced into her delicate finger. Oh well. Nothing but a scratch. But the blood seemed to be spilling out quite quickly…

Jun simply picked up the rose and dropped it into the water-filled vase and rinsed off her bleeding finger. The bleeding stopped, but it had left a throbbing pain. It didn't hurt…much.

She shrugged and picked up the gift her love had given her, and went inside her hotel bathroom to try it on. Unknown to her, a drop of blood spilt from her finger and into the water in the vase when she placed the rose in it. The single drop of blood began to curl and coil, soon twisting the clear water's own purity, and turning it a bright shade of red…


	2. Second Rose: Beyond Beauty

**Five Roses**

_By Sachi Gosetsuke_

Summary: Five roses…that's how many he gave her. And he told her he would love her until the last one dies (JunxKaz).

_**Sachi**_: is it just me, or does this website _suck_ now?

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_Second Rose: _Beyond Beauty

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"_Love is only half the illusion; the lover, but not his love, is deceived_" - George Santayana,

* * *

She stood at the shores of the lake, ankle deep in the watery depths.

The sun had set just an hour ago, its vibrant colors of orange, pink, and lavender now turned blue black, with few stars in the sky twinkling in all its glory. A beautiful crescent moon sat up in the sky.

Hours before she had occupied herself with making little splashes about, like a little girl, pretending she was back in Yakushima…she said a prayer in her head, saying her blessings and such, closing her eyes and letting the wind lift up her hair above her shoulders and dress floating around her. Her sandals were in her hand.

It's way past the hour on which Kazuya promised to meet her. Where was he? She had kept up her own promise on agreeing to come here, her in her new white dress and sandals in hand, her favorite white headband that he loved to always see her in. She had to cancel a dinner with some fighters from the tournament and when she could be working on some 3WC documents, she chose to see him.

Because she loved him.

She held up the rose in her hand. She doesn't really know why she brought that as well… She just figured it would be a nice gesture in showing him that she loved the simple rose.

But she stood there, the air around her creating goose bumps on her bare skin, the water not helping at all, and she criticized at her rose.

It was already wilting. She had to wear a band-aid on the finger that got pricked by its thorns.

Jun couldn't help but wonder ever so vaguely on her lover's other promise…that he would love her until the last rose he gives her dies. He didn't mean that literally…did he?

It sounded even dumber a second time.

Of course not. Roses die too quickly, just like the one wilting in her hand. Their love was stronger, truer, and much more real and beautiful than roses.

But what did she know about love? Her, a mere innocent 22 year old who had never been with a man, never slept with one, and of course, never loved one.

Yet Jun loved her family…and she loved her friends…and more than that she loved the her homeland Yakushima filled with its vast beauty and animals…moreover her love for her family and friends was enough to know that she was not being foolish and it wasn't infatuation. Her feelings for Kazuya were true love.

A pedal fell onto the surface of the lake.

And she didn't even notice.

Jun remembers how early she had compared Kazuya's "faults" to thorns on a rose…could her love actually be a rose, which holds such beauty and perfection, to her, but as everybody else who doesn't know him, simply choose to see mostly thorns _clouding_ the real beauty within?

Jun chooses to forgive easily, and she can see beyond what everyone else can as well. She sees true beauty in Kazuya; perhaps even more beautiful than a rose, who only _has_ it's beauty. Yes, he has thorns that if pricked by, you'll be scarred. Yet she hasn't been pricked.

…Or could it be that she was just like "everyone else" as they stared upon a magnificent rose; staring at it's vibrant shade of blood red pedals, inhaling its sweet fragrance and cherishing it forever…while ignorant to its sinful thorns.

She didn't care though.

Another hour came by. It was darker than before. The moon shined vividly against the ink black sky as her only light. It was dark, and cold, and she was still there at the shores of the lake waiting. Several more pedals had fallen to the water. She shivered in her solitude, a little angry, yet most of all disappointed.

She finally made her way back to her room.

Inside, she quickly changed into her nightgown, tossed her lovely white dress on a nearby chair…and noticed a new crimson rose in the exact vase filled with water that she had just removed the first rose from, hours ago.

She inspected the rose clearly, not surprised at all. But all the same, struck awe by the rose's beauty. She placed the other rose in there with it.

Underneath the vase however, was a white note. Taking it, she already knew whom it was from by the slanted, hastily written, Western-style cursive.

_Jun, _

_Please forgive me, but I will not be able to meet you at the lake tonight. Some things have come up to my attention._

_Judging from your absence right now, I can tell that you had already left. I will try and send someone to tell you so. If not, than you can tell that I am very busy at the moment._

_Love always,_

_K._


	3. Third Rose: Wilting Away

**Five Roses**

_By Sachi Gosetsuke_

Summary: Five roses…that's how many he gave her. And he told her he would love her until the last one dies (JunxKaz).

_**Sachi**_: back, & not really ready to start writing again & desperately wanting to go back to California. & I'll have you know that I've also been busy with the sequel to _**Bring Me To Life**_. Oops – should I have kept that a secret? And even in two month's time of working on it, I'm still not even _**close**_ to finishing the first chapter…and what's even more pitiable is I can't even think of a damned **title**. I think I lost my inspiration…and motivation…and creativity…

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_Third Rose: _Wilting Away

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"_Love never dies a natural death. It dies because we don't know how to replenish its source. It dies of blindness and errors and betrayals. It dies of illness and wounds; it dies of weariness, of withering, of tarnishing._" - Anais Nin

* * *

_I wish I were like the rain…_

Jun hummed a tuneless tune, watching the raindrop pitter-patter softly against the cool glass of her window.

Countless times she was told how untainted her spirit was and how it probably inherited the very essence of water. After all, it was the way she resulted so smoothly and the way her grace just flowed from her every pore…they said she was like the rain: cleansing the Earth with it's own purity.

At the moment though, she begged to differ.

It seemed that ever since she entered the Iron Fists, the very teachings she has been taught to live with and her own strict and moral code were being tainted, piece by piece. The purity she had possessed and been able to pass on to others seemed to be drifting away…

Her mission to purify her love was growing weaker.

It's been days…weeks since they last been together. Yes, they do see each other, pass by one another, and give secret (and private) messages to each other. But if the meeting at the lake that one night had been their last chance at seeing each other with no care or caution…they blew it.

If only they were able to see each other freely without the suspicious and judging eyes of the world…

But how long can she be able to be so far apart from him, without hearing his soothing and deep voice, and getting lost in his dark and mystifying gaze…without feeling his lips brush the skin of her face ever so lightly, fingertips on skin, follicles at end, his lips on hers in a slow and deep kiss…

But they never did go farther than a kiss. But even a kiss was able to send all her moral and difference between what was right and what was wrong go flying out the window.

The tournament was drawing to a close…

How long will it be until he finally discovers the whereabouts of Heihachi? How long will it be until she is able to exorcise the evil within him? And even so, how much will it take to convince him to end this selfish vendetta?

But how long will it be until worldly matters and their own separate lives…_separate_ them…for good?

No matter how strong her love was for him…no matter what power she could muster from her own spirit…it will be a difficult and enduring battle with her, a "supernatural" mortal against the _Akuma_; Devil.

But how strong was her love for him, _really_?

As the time flew by without being with her beloved…her own trust in him began to waver.

Excuses upon excuses; that's all it has been between them. Every time she tries to see him. Every time she asks about the tournament, or his plans about the illegal bio-species, and even his father…Jun would be a damn fool to actually believing the lies he offers her.

Lies.

Lack of trust. Lack of faith. Lack of connection…when there is no trust, there is no love. And you can hardly call eye catches in the lobby "seeing" one another as a deep and meaningful chemistry, can you?

Countless nights of worry. Countless nights of blinking away tears – and failing. Countless nights filled with nothing but darkness, darkness that carried the nightmares, nightmares of failure, of Devil…of losing him.

"Kazuya…" Jun murmured.

She fingered the pedals of her roses lightly. They were dieing. No. They couldn't even be called beautiful. The thorns that still remained in tact were even more noticeable.

_I'll love you until the last one dies._

Did he really mean that?

He's pushing her away. He's lying to her. He's distracting her with petty little gifts, boxes of chocolate and pointless vases of her favorite flowers – _sunflowers_…all wrapped up in pity, buried in his excuses, lost in his lies…it was so obvious he really was avoiding her that it almost hurt.

And it did hurt.

But she knew his plan.

She just knew in her gut, deep, deep down, forgetting her tears and his faults that there was a reason for this. No, not just because he was CEO of the biggest and most important empire of Asia. But it could be as well. But no, it was because he was trying to protect her. To drive her away from this mess, from this crazy tournament, from all cruelties meant to be left unseen. From him.

But why does it still hurt?

_I wish I were more like the rain_… Jun thought to herself once more.

Rain connected the sky to the Earth. Moreover, rain purifies the Earth so naturally; it made it seem almost easy.

_Rain is able to cleanse the Earth and connect it with the sky, without even bringing them together_, she continued to muse. _Perhaps if I were like the rain…I would be able to exorcize the Devil easier, without failure. _

_And not only that, but I can rid the whole world's own faults and cruelties, connect with everyone's heart without even bringing them together. Just like how the rain connects the sky and Earth. And the two don't even touch._

_And if I were like the rain in the very beginning, trying to purify Kazuya, the "Earth…" Then perhaps I wouldn't even have to had gotten to know him. Learn to love him. Cope with the constant loneliness that I had once been accustomed to._

But even as she thought these things in her head, she knew it was not true.

No matter how many times she reminisces in her head, she will never in a million years choose to disregard her loved one. If she had a choice to go back in the past to never meet Kazuya again – she could not do it. Though this newfound love came with heartache and doubts, she could never regret falling in love.

Love…such a foreign yet natural existence. Her love for Kazuya was indeed strong; stronger than her will to destroy the Akuma within him.

Lazily she touched the new blood red rose with her fingers, with a new sensation filing her that made her smile.

The third rose, which had come just this morning, causing her to sit down by her window, was just as beautiful as the others had been before. In time, the rose would wilt along with them as well.

But her love would not wilt away. She would not let it.

She couldn't.

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_**Sachi**_: good golly gosh. How could I ever have forgotten to add the **disclaimer** all this time? Well you know the drill: **don't own them, and never will**.


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